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or a long shot. In a case of this sort the cut instantaneously changes the position of the observer, a manoeuvre which in real life is physically impossible. Yet when an editor cuts from a medium shot to a close-up he is not taking an unwarrantable liberty : he is merely interpreting a mental process different from the one we have discussed so far.
An example should clarify the point. I have, a few feet to my right, a bookshelf full of books. If I decide to turn my head to look at it, I can see a vague general impression of the shelf and all the books on it. Then, as my eye travels along one of the rows, my attention is suddenly caught by one specific book, a volume with a red cover. My eyes focus on this as I try to decipher its title from a distance : I am no longer consciously aware of the general mass of books — it is now a particular one which holds my whole attention. After a while I manage to read the title and my gaze reverts back to my desk. During the whole of this period, three separate images have been significant for me : first, the general impression of the whole shelf ; then, a detail of the previous impression, namely, the one red book ; and third, the independent image of my desk to which I subsequently return my attention.
In transferring this scene to the screen, it is not sufficient to show the general impression — in this case a shot of the whole shelf— and let the spectator pick out any detail he chooses : the specific detail must be artificially brought to his attention. At the dramatically appropriate moment, the editor must cut from the general view of the whole shelf to a close shot of the chosen red volume. In doing this, he is not reproducing the physical conditions which obtain when I experience the scene : he is interpreting the mental process by which I see it. A spectator watching the film will immediately identify this method of presentation as a psychologically accurate one, and will accept the cut to the close shot without becoming conscious of the device.
In the first case, using Lindgren's example, we have found a justification for cuts which change the direction of the camera's view but leave it fixed in one position. In the second case, we have justified cuts where the camera's position relative to an object, but not its direction of view, is altered.
This, however, does not exhaust all the possibilities. On a great many occasions it is necessary to cut to a shot taken both from a different position and facing in a different direction from its predecessor. In assembling a dialogue scene, for instance, an editor
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